You can expect a great view when you’re on top of 14,000+ ft mountain, but some summits make you audibly cry out in astonishment. Mt. Sherman is one of these mountains. Its standard Southwest Ridge has mostly a Class 1 trail, with a small Class 2 section closer to the summit. The view up to the saddle between Sherman and Sheridan are unremarkable, unless you’re like me, and enjoy old mines and being surrounded by rocky mountain tops. I’m getting a little ahead of myself here. Let’s start from the beginning.

I bribed my 10 year old with a day at the playground, if he summited Mt Sherman with his brother and me. The forecast projected a perfect hiking day, so we decided to head to Fairplay at about 6:30am. Based on previous reviews, I was very nervous about the road to the trailhead. To my surprise, the road wasn’t terrible, and my Chevy Trax felt right at home on the rocky terrain. A 4x4 or AWD vehicle won’t have any issues driving up to the gate, and a 2WD car can make it about 1/4 mile from the gate without many issues. Just take your time! We arrived at the trailhead at 8:30am, and set out on the old mining road.

I love taking pictures of old mines, so this is a photographer’s Mecca. Stopping for photo-ops is my excuse for having the slowest pace on any run/hike to date, and not the fact that the road had a pretty steep incline for about a third of a mile. There are many offshoots to the various old buildings, so if your goal is just to make it to the top, keep following the well-established road going up the mountain. About a mile or so in, especially once the road turns into a trail up the mountain, there will be lots of scree loose gravel, so take your time, if you’re new to this. Grippy shoes and poles are incredibly helpful, just make sure you bring them. Naturally, my hiking poles were looking pretty in my front yard during our climb.

SPOILER for the next paragraph. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. At one point, as we were hiking up the trail, I told my kids we needed to take a break to refuel and rehydrate, once we reached the top of the segment. As we arrived to said spot, we turned left, and one of the most beautiful views opened up before us. At that point, the trail meets the middle of the saddle between Mt Sherman and Mt Sheridan (13,000k footer), with views of Leadville, Turquoise Lake, Mt Massive and Mt Elbert in the distance. Turn left for Mt Sheridan, and turn right for Mt Sherman. After a few pictures and talking to a couple that had gotten married on Mt Elbert (how awesome is that), we started our steep and rocky ascent towards the summit.

If you’ve ever climbed Mt Sanitas in Boulder, using the East Ridge trail, this will feel very familiar. As we went up the steep trail, it narrowed, and became an easy Class 2 trail for a short while (probably less than a quarter mile). Here, we went over two false summits, until we saw the final peak, which in true alpine fashion, wasn’t really the actual summit. Once we reached the top, we were rewarded with a nice straightaway to the actual summit, along with stunning views.

So far, this is one of my favorite mountain vistas, which includes the Arkansas River Valley, along with Leadville, Turquoise Lake, the Sawatch Range, with Mt Elbert and Mt Massive on the Western side, and South Park Valley (yes, that South Park), all the way to Pikes Peak, to the East. I’m pretty sure if I squinted enough, we could’ve seen our house. I am incredibly proud of my boys! This was my 10 year old’s first 14er, and my 12 year old’s second. They both did an excellent job maintaining a decent pace, while saying hi to every dog they met, with permission from the owners, of course.

Gemini Peak

My 12 year old insisted on climbing Gemini Peak, which is a sub-peak of Mt Sherman, therefore it doesn’t have the required prominence to be ranked. My 10 year old decided to hang out on the Sherman summit, while his brother and I hiked up to the tallest of the two Gemini peaks. This gave us a true Class 2 climbing experience. There are no visible trails to Gemini, so have a map and GPS with you. We descended on the ridge line onto somewhat of a plateau, before ascending onto Gemini. Sans a defined trail, this experience was a true scramble to the top, making it the first 13er summit for both of us. The views at the summit were stunning, once again. We descended on the eastern slope of Gemini, which brought us under the aforementioned plateau, disorienting me slightly. The trip back to Sherman was faster than I had expected, and according to the map, we were right under the Eastern side the summit. The silver lining was a much easier ascent to the summit, which took us about 15-20 minutes. If you ask my kid, we were lost, despite the fact that we knew our exact location based on the GPS and map, but I guess it makes for a more suspenseful story! Total time to Gemini and back was about an hour and a half. Upon our second summit to Sherman, we found my 10 year old napping. In the mean time, my 12 year old insists he count two Sherman summits, so who am I to argue with him?

The hike down was fairly uneventful, save for my youngest and I falling on our butts on gravel. After all, what great hike doesn’t include testing Newton’s Laws of Motion? We also felt some grapple, reminding us that fall is right around the corner. As for wild animals, we only saw birds, squirrels and a lot of pikas. When we arrived at the gate, my 10 year old got on his knees and exclaimed with glee: “I DID IT!” We spent the next afternoon at the playground, as promised.